Parenting
by LillianPaige
Summary: Roman isn't too worried about the time he spends away from his daughter. Not when he has Dean and Seth to help him brush up on his parenting skills. (Currently Rewriting.)
1. Chapter 1

"Do you feel like you're missing out on being a parent?" It used to make Roman feel like the worst parent in the world when he couldn't come up with an answer to that question. Of course he missed his daughter. What father wouldn't? He was on the road 300 days out of the year and of those 65 free days most of them were filled with interviews, signings, and reconnecting with the fans.

He felt Dean nudge his side and heard Seth make a comment about his lack of sleep as he stared blankly down at the mic in front of his face. Roman readjusted his headphones and cleared his throat as he stared at the radio show host, "Of course I miss my daughter. We all miss our families when we're out on the road. Thankfully, I get to brush on up on my parenting skills with these two." Roman couldn't help but smirk at the yelps of protest coming from either side of him.

* * *

After the radio show the boys returned to their shared hotel suite to get ready for their signing. Dean was in the bathroom trying to style his hair, Roman was in the kitchen fixing them lunch, and Seth was curled up on the couch mindlessly flipping through channels. Roman watched in pure amusement as Seth's head rolled off of his hand and he let it happen a few more times before taking pity on the two-toned man. Turning the burner on low, Roman made his way into the living room and picked Seth up in his arms bridal style.

Seth let out a tiny grunt and rolled his body toward the Samoan's chest. "Sleep," Roman whispered, walking the man to his room and placing him under the sheets. "The signing?" Seth whimpered, despite cocooning the blankets around him. "You have time." Was all the Samoan said before walking out and shutting the door.

* * *

The boys took their place at the long table; Roman was sat at the head of the table with Seth in the middle and Dean at the very end. Once they were all situated Roman gave the security guard a single nod, bracing himself for the wave of people about to come through.

An hour into the signing Roman looked down the table to see Dean over flirting with an overly bleached blonde, barely dressed girl. "Do you like my shirt?" The girl cooed shoving her chest inches from Dean's face; the word 'Ambrose' stretched tightly across her tits. Dean licked his lips and sent her a wink, "You wear me well." The girl let out a tiny giggle as Dean pulled her to the side of the table. Roman watched as the man whispered sweet nothings in her ear while barely acknowledging the person he was signing an autograph for.

"Excuse me," Roman muttered to the person in front of him. He pushed back in his seat and stomped down to Dean's end of the table, yanking him up by the back of his shirt and dragging him off behind the curtain. "What the hell are you doing?" He hissed once they were away from the prying eyes and ears of the fans. "That girl is, like, sixteen." Dean did a double take as if the thought had never crossed his mind and Roman resisted the urge to roll his eyes. Peeking his head out of the curtain, Roman waved off the Ambrose groupie, who left with a hair flip that would make Cameron envious, and turned back to Dean. "I don't want to see you pull something like that again. You sign the photos and you say, 'thank you for coming.' That's it. Not another word."

Dean looked like he was going to challenge him and Roman leveled him with a hard stare. The two men returned to their seats, Roman giving Seth a small smile to let him know that everything was okay, when someone shouted, "Dean! I want to suck your dick!" Dean looked to Roman with a smirk that could kill and was about to open his mouth to say 'thanks for coming' but decided against it when Roman gave him a look that could kill.

* * *

"Hey Punk, you need a ride?" Roman yelled out of his window, watching the tattooed man screaming and kicking the fender of his rental. "Stupid piece of shit broke down." Punk grumbled as he nodded his head in thanks before going to retrieve his things from the trunk. Roman gave the tattooed man a sleepy smile then turned his eyes on Dean. "Move to the back." He ordered with Dean narrowing his eyes in response. "And why the fuck would I do that?" Dean replied.

"Because," Punk said sticking his head through the passenger window. "Your daddy said so." It was a running joke backstage that Seth and Dean didn't take to kindly too. They were grown-ass men and they could do whatever the fuck they wanted, It was totally just a coincidence that they wanted to do whatever Roman told them to do.

"Fuck off, Phillip!" Dean grumbled as he pushed the car door against the man's stomach. He crawled out of the car and made his way to the backseat to see Seth sprawled out. He pulled the pillow out from under the sleeping man and hit him in the face, "Move!" Was all he got out before catching Roman's stern look in the rear view mirror.

"I'd be careful if I were you." Punk chuckled. "Messing with Daddy's favorite baby will get you a spanking." Dean simply kicked his seat in reply.

* * *

The boys were hanging out in the makeshift cafeteria having lunch before their taping. Dean and Roman were huddled together, Roman whispering harshly in Dean's ear, more than likely giving him a 'stern talking' for Dean's actions earlier in the day. Seth bit his lip as he watched the exchange between the two men and wisely hung back, pretending to mull over what he wanted to eat. He didn't want to be anywhere near Roman's reprimanding and he felt bad that Dean was going through it publicly.

He had no idea how Dean was keeping so calm and collected. If Roman was scolding him in front of all these people he would be a sweaty, blushing, frantic mess, paranoid that someone would overhear them. Seth let out a sigh of relief when the two pulled away and made his way over to the table. He sat his plate on the table and plopped down in his seat happily munching away on a piece of chicken when he felt Roman's ice eyes on him.

The two-toned man quickly decided that his best course of action would be acting completely oblivious to Roman's gaze and quickly engaged in conversation with Dean, who did not seem too interested in being a part of whatever punishment Roman was going to dish out to the youngest male. "Seth…" Roman's voice was laced with warning and the Iowa native knew he couldn't ignore the Samoan any longer.

Seth glanced over at the Samoan with the most innocent look he could muster and blinked at the man as a small smile crept on his face. Roman wasn't playing into it. "I don't see any vegetables on that plate." Seth blinked once more, this time in confusion, and looked down at his plate with a small frown. "Seth." Roman said again, his impatience seeping through his voice. Seth looked up once again; doe-eyed. "Go get some vegetables."

Roman tried to keep his voice low and draw little to no attention to them as possible. He knew that Seth wouldn't be able to handle people staring at him and, unlike with Dean, Roman wouldn't be able to use it to his advantage; the two-toned man would break down. Even now, he was squirming in his seat with only the possibility of someone knowing that he was in trouble.

Seth let out a small whimper and a whine of displeasure. Roman couldn't tell if it was towards the vegetables or Roman, but he nodded his head once anyway. "Now, Seth." He ordered a bit louder, deciding to use the boys fear to kick his butt into gear and it surprisingly worked; the two-toned man scrambled to his feet, quickly walked back over to catering, and filled his plate with every vegetable he could find.

Roman let out a sigh and pressed his forehead against the table. How has this become his life?

* * *

"DADDY!" Roman quickly turned and watched his daughter running through the airport with a huge smile on her face. The Samoan dropped to his knees just in time for the little bundle of joy to crash against his broad chest with her little arms flinging around his neck. Roman peppered her face in kisses to which she giggled at in pure delight and hugged his neck tighter. "Did you miss me?" The little Samoan asked. Roman looked back at the two boys accompanying him with a small smile, watching as they argued about who was going to get the window seat on the flight back home.

They had gotten a few days off before their next taping so Roman was going home to his family and Seth was going to stay with Dean in Las Vegas. Roman didn't even want to think about the trouble the boys were going to get into—it gave him a headache.

He looked back to the little girl in his arms and a smile spread across his face, "yeah, baby, I did." Roman gathered up his luggage and gave a small parting smile to Dean and Seth before walking away, a dull pain in his chest with every step he took. When he got his daughter settled in her booster seat and his luggage stowed away in the back Roman felt the pain growing stronger, but he was able to ignore it until they were far enough away from the airport that he couldn't see the building anymore. He let out a sigh and pulled out his phone opening a new message and quickly typing, "Be good" in a group message.

On the plane, the boy's pulled out their phones as they beeped simultaneously and Dean rolled his eyes while Seth looked offended. "It's like he doesn't trust us! "The tone-toned man exclaimed. Dean looked over to Seth with a small smirk then crooked his finger toward a flight attendant.

Fifteen minutes later Roman's phone pinged, he looked down seeing he had a picture message from Dean. Opening the message, he let out a groan as a picture of the younger men holding drinks in one hand and giving sloppy cheek kisses to the flight attendant sandwiched between them filled his screen. It didn't take a rocket scientist to know that Dean was the mastermind behind this one and he feared for Seth's innocence this weekend. He quickly typed out a reply and continued his sing-along of "I'm a little teapot" with his daughter.

To Dean: "We'll talk about this later"

His boys were going to be the death of him


	2. Chapter 2

The thing about being away from your child for too long is that you forget how much energy is stored inside of these miniature humans. Seriously, where do they fit it all? Roman has traveled halfway across the world to have a match with little to no sleep and he still wasn't as tired as he was after the night's adventures in dress up, tea parties, and Barbie dolls. It was nearly two in the morning before he was able to get his mini Samoan in her pajamas and it was passed four by the time he actually got her to sleep. His wife was going to kill him and he had to admit that he was a little glad that he had to fly out in the morning and not deal with a cranky six-year-old.

Roman landed face first on the bed, ignoring his wife's soft chuckling. _Yeah._ He thought to himself. _We'll see who's laughing in the morning._ He shimmied out of his basketball shorts and pulled his shirt over his head leaving him stark naked. Then, he pulled one of the pillows from above his head and stuck it between his legs, rolling over onto his side so his back was facing his wife. "G'night." He muttered on the off chance that the woman was still awake, not that he'd expect her to respond back even if she was. She may be his wife on paper, but that's about as far as it went these days.

It wasn't that he didn't love her or that she didn't love him, she was his college sweetheart and the mother of his child. There was tons of love for her in his heart, but it wasn't the romantic kind of love or lust filled love that they had in the start. Maybe it was from being on the road or maybe nature had just run its course. Maybe it was just one of those things that happened. They didn't hate each other. Heck, they didn't even dislike each other. They were actually pretty good friends, but that's where it stopped.

Roman let out a deep breath and let his eyes flutter shut while his muscles sunk into the mattress as he willed his body to relax and give into sleep. The thing about putting your body through a pseudo car crash every night was that the moment you stop moving, the minute the pain sinks in all at once. It takes Roman hours each night to find a comfortable position that would actually get his body to relax and tonight was no different. So, of course, that meant as soon as he did his phone would start ringing.

Ignoring the call was the first option that popped into his head. He was on vacation and any problem that was going on in the world just needed to wait a few more hours. The only problem with that choice is that when someone calls you at six in the morning and you ignore their call they're only going to call back. The second option was to answer the call, gruffly tell the person on the other end to fuck off, and then hang up the call and turn off his phone. Deciding the second one was the best choice Roman grabbed the phone and swiped to answer the call before putting it up to his ear, "Fuck off!"

"Rome?"

The meek voice on the other end of the line stopped Roman from pressing the end button and he brought the phone up to his ear with haste. "Seth?" He couldn't help the concern seeping into his tone. It was six in the morning and no one called just to chat at six in the morning which could only mean two things; either Seth was hurt or he was in trouble. "Seth, what's wrong?"

"Can you come get me?" Seth's voice was fragile and shaky, downright heartbreaking even. Roman threw the covers back, stepped into his boxers, and quietly exited the room as he listened to Seth's shaky breaths come down the line. "Rome? Are you still there?"

"I'm here," he replied, shutting the bedroom door and quickly making his way to the patio so he could talk freely without disturbing his family. "What's going on, Seth?"

"I don't know where I'm at and I'm scared."

Seth sounded downright panicked.

"Where is Dean?"

"I don't know… He left."

Roman didn't know if it was possible for your blood to actually boil or if it was possible that you could even feel it, but in this moment, he swore there was something cooking inside his body. It wasn't exactly a secret that Seth wasn't the partying kind of guy. Roman had barely seen the kid have more than a beer or two but even then it was in the comfort of his hotel room or on the tour bus of a fellow coworker. Dean on the other hand…

It didn't take a genius to figure out that Dean liked to have a good time. He was the Tara Reid of the WWE. The kid drank like fish and he'd admitted to Roman that he'd had a pill problem when he worked in Puerto Rico, had talked openly about selling drugs as a kid in Cincinnati. The drugs had stopped since arriving to the WWE, but Dean still liked his booze and he still liked his women. The kid just had too many vices to crush them all.

Seth on the other hand? Compared to Dean the kid was practically a Mormon. Seth liked his women; it was probably the one thing that could make him go silly-stupid. Drugs? The kid never got the appeal of them. Booze? He was a lightweight at best.

"You've just been drinking?" Roman asked, trying to figure out what was causing Seth's paranoia. If it was Dean he would've chalked it up to too much weed. But this was Seth and Seth didn't do drugs. Seth was the good one. The one he didn't have to worry about. Right? "What'd you take, Seth?"

"I don't know nam-"

"Just tell me the best you can." Roman cut off with a sigh, Maybe he had to worry after all. This was not like Seth at all. This wasn't what he had to scold Seth for. He and Seth fought about the kid's music being too loud, about him wanting to wear the same damn band shirt for six days in a row, about how Roman was 'The Man' because he wouldn't let Seth go to whatever emo-rock band's show because it was a work night. Not this, though. Never this.

"Did you smoke weed?" Roman pressed, after being met with silence.

"Dean said it'd help me relax." Seth replied, his voice sounding anything but relaxed.

"It does." Roman agreed with a nod. "When you don't mix it with anything. How much did you drink? Did you take anything else?"

"Well..." Seth trailed off, and Roman could just picture the kid biting his lip. "Some guy gave me these really tiny pink pills."

"Some guy?" Some guy?! He couldn't believe Seth accepted drugs from some stranger! At least Roman could trust Dean to know what he was doing and not give the kid the wrong combination of things.

"I just want to lie down." Seth whined, his voice sounding absolutely wrecked, and Roman wished he could let the kid sleep, honestly he did, but without knowing everything that's been down his throat sleep could be a matter of life and death.

"Can't sleep yet, buddy." Roman cooed, hoping his voice sounded soothing and not full of the rage he was currently shaking with. He fumbled with the sliding glass door and stepped back inside to grab the landline from the kitchen.

"That's not fair." Seth whined.

"Yeah," Roman huffed, dialing Dean's cell with his free hand. "Well, that's what happens when you do drugs, kid." It took three more tries to get Dean to finally answer his phone, and in that time, Seth had managed to fill his whine quota for the next ten years.

"Dean Ambrose." The husky voice on the other end purred before adding, "Love machine. How can my cock be of service to you today?"

Roman rolled his eyes and let out a snort. This kid. "Yeah, you wish. Hey, look, you missing something, man?" He could hear Dean muttering to himself, going through a list of things that might have vanished before his very eyes.

"Can't say that I am." Dean concluded.

"No? Not even a six foot, two toned, whiny little emo kid? Possibly named Seth Rollins?"

There was a pause. A moment of deafening silence. And then...

"Ah, shit." Dean hissed into the phone. Roman could hear the panic set in Dean's voice and he decided to let the kid marinate it in for a bit. It would do him good and it wasn't like he didn't deserve it.

He listened for a bit as Dean frantically called for Seth before deciding to take pity on the kid, "Good news for you, Ambrose. I know where he is."

"Well, where the fuck is he?"

Roman listened as Seth described to him where he was, relaying the information back to Dean in real time. Sometimes he'd tell Seth to move to a new location, other times he'd tell Dean the difference between right and left or he'd describe colors for Seth while spelling store names out for Dean, but eventually, the two found each other and Roman could breathe again.

"I think," the Samoan started his voice nothing but calm and soothing, although inside he couldn't have been further from it. "That it's time for you two to head home."

The groans, the whines, and the immediate declaration of Roman's unfairness filtered through the phone and he instantly silenced it with a low, warning growl.

"Hail a taxi and get yourselves showered and sobered up. Bad news for you boys; since you decided to be my little party animals you get to stay up all night."

More whines. More growls.

"You can sleep it off on the plane when whatever it is you took is out of your system. Go shower, go get some coffee. Sober up." Roman smirked as the reluctant; "yes sirs" filled his ears. "And boys? We will talk about this later."

* * *

Roman paced back and forth muttering to himself while wringing his hands together. People found it funny, didn't they? They found it funny to get him worked up. They found it funny to see him angry. People named Seth and Dean, to be specific, because why wouldn't it be funny to not show up for their flight on time? Without a phone call to let him know that they were still alive nonetheless. And of course, it was just so damn hilarious to stroll in with rumpled clothing and bruises on their faces. Dean probably got a real good chuckle about the blood caked on his face.

It wasn't funny when Roman started screaming, though. It wasn't funny when every inch of his body was shaking with rage. It wasn't funny when Seth and Dean quietly sunk to their seats, worried glances being shared between the two of them as Roman started in on them about wanting to know where they'd been, who'd they'd been with, why they thought it was okay not to call, what they expected him to do now. He still didn't know the answers.

"_Drugs_!" He hissed as quietly as he could. One; because he didn't need some overzealous fan hearing their conversation and whipping out his phone to record and blast it all over the internet. And two; because the gate agent kept looking over at him like he was some kind of threat and she didn't know if he was safe to be on the plane. "You guys know how incredibly stupid that is, right? I mean, of course not. Of course you don't because if you did then you wouldn't have done it!"

Roman watched the two share a nervous side glance and shook his head as more of Dean's bruises came into view. "And what the hell is up with the battle wounds? I thought I said go straight home?"

"Yeah, well, couldn't let some fucker get away with playing pharmacist with Sethie boy, could I?" Dean bit back with no real venom towards Roman. "I had to protect our boy."

Protect him? Protecting him would be watching him like a hawk; not offering him drugs to relax him so Dean could go off and have a good time without having to worry about taking care of his sidekick. Protecting him would be not taking him to that party in the first place. "You think that was protecting him?"

Dean's eyes narrowed and Roman could feel the hatred shifting from the stranger with the matching bruises all onto Roman. "He's alive, ain't he?" And Dean says this like Roman should drop to the ground and kiss his feet. Like Roman should be thankful that he took time out of his vacation to watch Seth. That, sure, Seth may have some scrapes and some bruises, but he's here in one piece and he's still breathing, like that should be enough.

"And at what cost?" Roman asks, his eye briefly flickering to the departure screen. They couldn't miss this second flight. They had to get to their next stop or else Vince would rip them a new asshole. "Did you stop to think that we have European tours coming up soon? What if whatever is in Seth's system doesn't make its way out by then? What if he fails his piss test, gets suspend, and The Shield ends forcing you and I on the back burner until something better comes up?"

Dean's mouth closes as soon as it opens and Roman can't help but to feel smug. "And then," Roman continues. "Seth loses his job, gets black balled from every professional company, can't find work on the Indies, and his dream is gone all because you wanted to go out and have a good time. You can ruin your career if you want to when you have your own career to ruin, but we're a package deal and when one of us does something stupid it affects us all. And right now, you've both done something stupid."

Seth let out a strangled sound and Dean's eyes only narrowed even more if that were even possible. So what? Let them be mad. It's not the first time that they've been mad at him and it won't be the last.

The PA system crackled above the heads and a smooth voice informed them that their flight was preparing to board. Roman let out a sigh and told them to "C'mon." as he wheeled over to get in line for the second time that day. When the other two joined him Roman handed them their boarding pass and said, "Because you were late, we're not sitting together." in an icy tone with a glare to match. . He saw the look in both of their eyes finally show a little realization that what occurred the previous night has not been forgotten nor forgiven by their older friend. And why should it? Roman had every right to be just as mad at them as they were at him.

* * *

A bit of panic settled inside of Roman as he realized just how serious the airline agent was about them not sitting together. He and Seth were scattered somewhere along the middle of the plane; although they were close enough together that Roman could keep an eye on the back of Seth's head, they were still far enough away that if anything went wrong it'd take Roman a bit of a trek to get to him. Dean, however, had been placed all the way in the back of the plane where Roman couldn't see without standing up which invoked panic in more ways than Roman could count. Mainly because Dean was next to an endless supply of women and booze, the combination as deadly as any. The possibilities of what Dean could get up too were endless, but the kid wouldn't do something stupid enough that would get him kicked off the plane.

Would he?

No, no. Dean could be wild and crazy and sure the kid's impulse control was next to none but he was smart enough to know not to cause trouble mid-flight. Right? Yeah. Totally... maybe he should check on the kid just in case.

Roman knew he couldn't just get up and waltz on over to the kid because If Dean was doing anything bad that was a sure fire way for him to kick it up another notch and throw it back in Roman's face. _'See? See what I'm getting up too? See how naughty I'm being?_' Roman has learned that if you if give Dean some lead way he will be your perfect shining star, but the minute you tighten that rope all hell breaks loose.

So you can imagine how purely coincidental it is that Roman just happened to need to pee. No harm and checking on Dean on his way to the bathroom. Is anyone buying that? No? Well, it's a good thing Dean is a gullible little shit then. He'd totally eat it up.

Except Dean wasn't partying it up in the back row. He wasn't racking up a tab of cheep airline booze and there was no pretty stewardess in his lap. In fact, Dean was sitting with his head down and twirling his thumbs around each other. His brows were drawn in together, his bottom lip jutted out, a crease etched into his forehead. Roman took the empty seat next to Dean with a sigh. The blonde didn't look up but the thumb twirling did get more excessive before coming to a stop when Roman bumped his shoulder against the kids. Neither male looked at the other and they sat in silence until Dean said, "I didn't mean to hurt Seth."

Roma nodded, "I know."

"And if I had thought he'd be in any danger I wouldn't have taken him out with me. Sometimes I forget that he's not used to my world..."

Roman didn't say it out loud but it was pretty easy to forget that situation was also reversed; Sometimes, as humans, we have such high expectations for each other to look a certain way or act a certain way and it was easy to forget that those exceptions have to be lowered for Dean even if it's just getting up and completing basic personal hygiene task without being asked. That alone was gold star worthy.

"He's still immature." Roman shrugged. "He has a lot of growing up to do. A lot more life experience to gain. I don't think that party was the best place to start."

"I know." Dean sighed. "I just..."

Whatever Dean "just" was, Roman never found out for the boy went stone face and started twirling his thumbs once more.

Dean had a lot of street smarts and Roman knew that the kid had to grow up a lot faster than most people to deal with the things that he saw and lived through each and every day. So while going out and boozing at a party where pills and herbs were fluttering around everywhere you turned was such a normality to someone like Dean, someone who wouldn't think twice about such a thing, it was still scandalous to people like Roman, Seth, and half of the world. Roman didn't want Dean to feel guilty for something that he truly didn't know better for.

"So..." Roman said nudging Dean's shoulder, granting the boy a smirk when they made eye contact. "What's the other guy's face look like?"

"Roman."

The sound of Dean's chuckle brought a genuine smile to Roman's face. Not that he hasn't realized it before, but he was pretty hard on Dean sometimes. Roman sometimes felt that had a lot to prove; he wanted to make sure everyone not only knew but saw that he didn't get into this company on a pretty face and a creditable last name. Dean was the most unreliable and unprofessional son of a bitch that he's ever met and that doesn't bode well with what Roman's got to prove. Dean likes to sleep in, Roman likes to be up on time. Dean doesn't own a button down shirt, Roman owns one too many and a four-piece suit. Dean doesn't grasp the basics of hygiene, Roman practically has his own skin and hair care line. So Roman pushes him. Not only because Roman needs Dean to have his shit together once in awhile but the kid could be destined for greatness if he could remember to put deodorant on every day.

With a chuckle and a knowing smirk, Roman clapped his hand on Dean's back beaming proudly. "That's my boy!"

* * *

A/n: Thank you guys so much for sticking with this story for nearly a year and a half now. I appreciate all the help that you guys have given and all the ideas that you have contributed and I'm so excited to reboot this story with my own ideas and to actually have an idea of where this is all going. I've enjoyed getting and fulfilling your request and it'll be a bit sad in the beginning not to get them anymore. (I'm no longer taking request, for those of you who haven't heard.)

I want to make the background stories as true to life as I can so if something is not true I will make a disclaimer at the end of every chapter. For instance; Yes, Dean did have a huge pill problem. He talks about it in a podcast but I can't remember which one. No, Seth is not party shy (At least not from what I've observed.)

Make sense?

And of course as always, the obvious non truths are obvious non truths. I'm not in anyway saying that this is how people in the WWE live their lives to cope with being on the road. So when I say things like Sami's parents are dead or Alexa had an eating disorder, clearly those are things that are true but obviously Sami doesn't have a crush on Alexa, Dean isn't dating Baron, and as much as it pains my heart to say; Dean and JoJo don't cuddle on a daily basis.

Okay? Alright.

I decided to post this without the companion piece because 1) I'm still working on that and 2) Everyone seemed so excited when they thought chapter two was posted that I decided to go ahead and post this since it's been done for weeks now.


End file.
